Dublin corner-back Philly McMahon has responded to allegations of foul play in yesterday’s All-Ireland final against Kerry, denying any intention to get involved with Kieran Donaghy.
RTÉ Sport’s Marty Morrissey was at the winning team hotel to get the morning-after reaction from Dublin manager Jim Gavin and McMahon to them becoming All-Ireland champions for the third time in five seasons.
Dublin defeated Kerry by 0-12 to 0-09 at Croke Park to claim their 25th title before celebrating their achievement at the Gibson Hotel last night.
Regarding the incident with Donaghy, where the Dublin player appeared to grab the Kerry man's face, McMahon commented: "Look, it was a slippy day and the ball was on the ground to be challenged and I went down to challenge the ball, and he’s a big lad so, trying to get around Kieran Donaghy is hard but... Yeah look, this is the heat of the battle.
"We’d like to say part of our culture is humility and the same with the Kerry lads. You know, what happened on the pitch stays on the pitch and we shook hands and that was the end of it."
When pressed further if there was any intention to get involved with Donaghy 'in any way', McMahon responded: "No, look it, this is Gaelic football and we’re grown men. We play a physical sport and at the end of the day the result is what ends it and we shake hands and get on with it."
As for the celebrations? "Yeah, it was brilliant" said McMahon.
"The Gibson Hotel looked after us really well and the lads had a great night. I'm sure some of them are still having a good night, or good morning, but it was great – mixed emotions but it’s starting to come to light what we've achieved."
McMahon went on to praise Gavin and the Dublin management, saying: "We stuck to a system that we worked on for the whole year and we got the win in the end from that."
He continued: "It's thanks to Jim and the management team and what we've worked on in training. We've been allowed to express ourselves in our game plan. The defence from the forwards this year has helped us immensely and it’s nice to get up and support them."
Manager Gavin said: "Yeah, it's great to wake up this morning at the Gibson Hotel being All-Ireland champions. It probably hasn't sunk in yet for the players and myself after a really epic battle with Kerry and we were just delighted to get over the line."
Regarding the conditions, where it rained before hand, Gavin said: "It was certainly a tense affair, and the underfoot conditions were demanding for the players and lots of technical errors from both sides, something that you wouldn't expect in an All-Ireland final.
"But it's testament to both groups that they went hard at it. I thought the game was played very competitively, but in a very spirited way. The low-scoring game reflected in the tough conditions yesterday."
Dublin will parade the Sam Maguire through O'Connell Street this evening.
